2026 The United Kitchens Going Deep In The Borough Of Global Eats

I had such a great time and I am so appreciative of my tour guides. The food was great and I understand so much more about the history of food in queens!

The tour experience was very efficient and fun. We ate lots of good food and Sergio was so helpful in running ahead to make our trip easier. We also learned a lot as we walked around.

Fantastic experience! Our guide, Sierra, was the best. A devoted foodie, they were also very knowledgeable about the cultural history of the neighborhoods we visited and the foods we sampled. The tour was well paced. We had plenty to eat and drink, but weren't left feeling overly stuffed. We were a fun group of five on this tour, perfect for a more intimate experience. If you enjoy the flavors of Mexico, South America, and South Asia, this tour is for you. Highly reccommend.

Sergio was fabulous. He knew the neighborhood and walked us through the little known highlights. The food choices were awesome. The flavors and freshness burst from every bite! I highly recommend this tour especially with Sergio.

Excellent tour of Queens with Sergio - highly recommend; show up hungry!

Sergio was engaging, knowledgeable, and respectful. He asked many times about the group's comfort and needs. He sincerely loved the people and the neighborhoods. I highly recommend this tour!

The best way to spend a day in New York City. Sergio was tremendous: knowledgeable and friendly. 10/10.

Excellent food, great experience with Sergio our guide. He was very informative on the neighborhoods, cultures and community. He was knowledgeable about the roots of each of the foods and he was incredibly kind and fun. Love Culinary Backstreets tours. He took us places we would never have thought about discovering. Great food tour!

Sergio was a fantastic guide who took us to great family-owned places. There was a great mix of different flavors, and I learned a lot about the neighborhoods.

Sergio was the best! This was an awesome way to see Queens which I have been wanting to do for years. This is my fourth culinary backstreet’s tour, they are just my favorite. Ask for Sergio!

our guide, Sierra, along with the curated food, made this into an event to remember

Our food tour with Sierra was simply exceptional! They took us to 9 food stops, 2 markets, and even a couple of other stores, thoroughly explaining the significance of each location and its cultural and historical context within the neighborhood. The balance between eating, walking, and talking was very well managed throughout the 5 1/2 hour tour. By the end, we felt that through our food experiences we’d gained a greater understanding and appreciation of the diversity of Latin American and Asian cultures present in the space of just a few blocks in Queens. Definitely a tour not to be missed!

Sergio was a delight, and it was so much fun journeying through the different flavors of Corona and Jackson Heights!

Second tour for me. Fantastic experience.

This was an amazing way to discover the international neighborhoods of Queens! Sierra is the most amazing tourguide. They were incredibly knowledgeable, not only about the neighborhood, but the food! We both learned so much and Sierra was amazingly helpful, friendly and made the tour exciting, fun, full of stories and clearly was a respected figure amongst the Queens restaurants and food trucks we visited. I highly recommend!

Fabulous experience. Our guide, Sierra, was so knowledgeable and so personable and just made it an overall outstanding experience. Highly recommend.

We absolutely loved our tour of Queens with our guide, Sierra. From the warm welcome, through the Americas, and across to Asia, we had a lovely day. We sampled breads, beverages, carnitas, sausages, empanadas, onigiri — maybe 15 or so items throughout the course of the day. My favorite was the Bangladeshi panipuri. It’s a flavor bomb of crunchy, creamy, spicy, savory, sweet deliciousness. What made the tour extra special is just how much fun we had with Sierra, who shared a lot of great knowledge about the foods and cultures we were exploring.

Tremendous fun and Sergio was terrific. All of our group had a good time even in the tremendous heat. The only stop we didn’t really love was the Mexican bread, but it was interesting to see, especially as we don’t generally associate Mexican cuisine w bread. Every other stop was someone’s favorite and we loved all the food. Sergio was charming, gracious, thoughtful, knowledgeable, and we all liked him a lot! I was worried about combining latinoamerican food w Asian, but it worked well. Would love to do the flushing tour!

Sierra was friendly, knowledgeable and welcomed warmly at all of our stops. They showed a real familiarity with the neighborhoods, the cuisines we tried and the businesses we visited. It’s a long tour but they brought great energy and we had a great time! As locals we learned more about the city and our out of town guest felt they had a unique and rich intro to a non-touristy side of the city.

Great food tour and Sergio was amazing!

5/5, I would 100% recommend this tour in Queens. We got here easily from Midtown using the 7 subway train which took about 45-60 mins (go early as our subway had a slight delay). Our tour guide, Sierra was excellent (honestly the best!) and really took care of us by finding shaded spots when outside, air conditioned restaurants with bathrooms, and was well prepared with cups/ napkins/wet wipes etc for sharing food on the tour. Bring your own (large) refillable water bottle as there are times when water can be refilled and on a hot day, you'll want to have as much hydration as possible. We started at a Mexican bakery then restaurant, move onto Columbian, Argentinian, Japanese, Nepalese, and Bangladesh foods, moving from Corona to Jackson Heights, supporting local eateries all throughout. Wow, so much food and great information about the area and cultures. We saw and ate so much, what a great experience in Queens! We had a very memorable and enjoyable day and definitely plan on coming back to Queens on our own, now that we are familiar with the area.

So much fun and very interesting! We’re local New Yorkers, but haven’t spent much time in Queens and it was truly fascinating and eye opening. The culture is definitely reflected in the food and everything we had was delicious. Sierra was our guide and they were extremely friendly and knowledgeable. I don’t eat any seafood, and they accommodated to completely avoid it. I am a picky eater and sometimes on food related activities I am made to feel bad if I don’t want to finish something. Sierra did a great job and checking in to see what we thought of the foods and of saying it was okay if we didn’t like something or didn’t want to finish something. A great tour and I would recommend for tourist who want to see a different side of NYC and for locals who want to explore outside their neighborhood.

Great experience with good food, I’m so full! Sergio was a great guide! Would definitely come again.

Sergio was an amazing tour guide, we had a great time exploring Queens for the second time with Culinary Backstreets

First, apologies for the lateness of this review. I thought I had submitted it! Sierra met my husband and me at the agreed upon spot after very thoughtfully texting a warning for us to dress warmly for the bitterly cold day. She even provided hand warmers for us! It was December and the coldest day on record for the year. Despite the temperature, the tour was amazing! We had no idea of the diversity of cultures and cuisines that exist in Queens, but we were introduced to many of them, and all were delicious! We highly recommend this cultural experience. This was our second tour with Culinary Backstreets and on Sierra's advice, we recently returned from Japan where we did two more CB tours.

All the food popped and we got lucky with some special vendors and World Cup vibes. Dona Fela’s Peruvian picarones stole the show. Himalayan momos and hand chopped Aregentine sausage were other highlights but everything was good. Sierra Spingarn expertly guided us, sharing her deep knowledge of thr food, cultures, and neighborhoods. Shout out to Esneider as well, who took us on another awesome version of the tour back in June of 2018.

Great guide. Knew the area, the history and the food. A full day of excellent bites. Enthusiastically recommended.

Carly was an amazing tour guide! We had so much fun learning about all the different cultures and foods during this tour! We especially loved and appreciated the wide variety of cultures and foods on this tour!

Sergio was an excellent tour guide. We had a great variety of Latin and Asian food and lots of good neighborhood details. We will absolutely do another tour

Sergio was a phenomenal guide and expertly guided us through Corona and Jackson Heights on an incredibly hot day. (He found us shade and made sure we were hydrated.) His humor and knowledge were a great match for the group and the spots we went to were all fantastic. I would happily book this tour, or another with Sergio or Culinary Backstreets, again.

This is my third time embarking on a Culinary Backstreets expedition and I've loved it every time. I bring a new person each time cause it's so delicious and informative -- like a Met museum tour meets a street food crawl -- and a great way to travel the world without leaving the Big Apple. Sierra was endlessly knowledgeable and I learned oodles despite it being my third outing and the fact that I've traveled all over the world. It's the antithesis of a kitschy Times Square foray. There's no better way to experience NY unpasteurized and try dishes that you barely see outside their motherland.

We had such a memorable experience with Sierra, tasting the cuisine of 9 different countries in 2 fascinating Queens neighborhoods. If it had just been about the food it would have been a satisfying and delicious day. But what made it special was Sierra’s deep knowledge of and enthusiasm about food history and neighborhood culture. It was a pretty hot day, and we covered a lot of turf, but Sierra’s energy and good cheer never flagged. We would highly recommend this tour in general and Sierra very specifically. Thanks for a lovely day!

Amazing tour with Sergio! I learned so much about the local culture and history of Corona and Jackson Heights. Definitely saving some restaurants to return to, such hidden gems!

Great medley of different food samplings. Also learned a lot about the neighborhood. Sergio was an excellent guide !

Very enjoyable, personable guide Sergio, full of interesting facts & info

We had a great time with Sergio! Going on a Monday most places were not crowded and we kept moving but were not ever rushed. I liked that we got to try lots of different kinds of things, standouts included the cheese arepa, the empanada with chimichurri, and onigiri. I also liked discovering some places we may return to next time we are in the neighborhood!

This tour with Sierra was fabulous! It was an immersive experience into the foods, culture, and history of Mexico, Central America, and South America and then around the world to Bangladesh, Nepal and more -- all within Corona and Jackson Heights. Sierra was extremely knowledgable and engaging, and the food was delectable. We highly recommend this tour.

Our food tour with Sergio in Queens was an easy 5-star experience. We tasted incredible dishes from Mexico, Japan, Bangladesh, Colombia, and beyond—each stop more delicious than the last. Sergio was knowledgeable, engaging, and made the entire tour feel like an immersive cultural experience, not just a food outing. We especially loved how he introduced us to parts of New York we wouldn’t normally explore. Thanks to this tour, Queens is officially part of our must-visit list every time we’re in the city. Highly recommend!

Great day! Serious guide was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and delightful

We loved our tour of Corona and Jackson Heights! So many delicious bites from many corners of the world. Sergio was wonderful and so knowledgeable. Will do another tour

Fascinating and delicious ! Sergio was a wonderful guide to the diverse neighborhoods of Corona and Jackson Heights. Despite gloomy weather we had a great day.

Sergio was fantastic - kind, knowledgeable, enthusiastic. The perfect amount of food and all of it new and exciting. We’ll be back!

My daughter (pescatarian), her boyfriend (vegetarian), and I (no dietary restrictions joined Sierra (tour guide) and another tour guest in the Corona area of Queens for the United Kitchen tour. Sierra was so friendly and knowledgeable, everyone liked her immediately. Her culinary background, coupled with her friendliness, had us all hanging on her every word. The food was fantastic, from the first stop at a Mexican Bakery in Corona, all the way through different neighborhoods (such as Little Bangladesh, Little India, a Colombian restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, and so many more) through the Jackson Heights area--so many stops I can't remember then all--we were completely immersed in some very different cultures. We stopped at some markets as well, and learned about spices and ingredients that we really weren't familiar with previously. We loved this tour. The itinerary, the food choices, the neighborhoods, and our tour guide made this a wonderful experience. I highly recommend it!

Wow, we love Culinary Backstreets and Sierra did not disappoint. She was AMAZING! She is a walking encyclopedia. We learned so much from her tour! She also is clearly a person who loves what she does and does it so well. She is a warm and caring person who really looked after each of us. It is the best walking food tour we have ever had and we have had a lot.

Fantastic tour, wonderful knowledgeable guide